


Pincushion Papillon

by Peppermint_Shamrock



Series: Hallowshots [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Identity Reveal, Gen, Humor, Voodoo doll, accidental magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 11:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20891309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/pseuds/Peppermint_Shamrock
Summary: Marinette makes a doll of Papillon, and quickly adopts the habit of taking out her frustrations on it.Gabriel starts experiencing mysterious sharp pains all over his body, and no doctor can find the cause.





	Pincushion Papillon

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Hallowshots! Every Monday and Friday this month, I'll be posting unconnected oneshots that fit the Halloween aesthetic in some way, ranging from humor to horror, similar to the [Spooktober fics](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1149152) I wrote last year.
> 
> This one was inspired by (though not taking place in the same universe as that fic at all) a conversation I had in the comments of my fic [Violation of Privacy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15464949).

It started small, as most things did before they grew out of hand.

Marinette had made other supervillain dolls before, after all, so why not the guy behind them all? So she had pulled up videos from Heroes’ Day, and went to work making a Papillon doll to match her others.

It wasn’t long after she’d completed it that the doll became a convenient target for taking out her frustrations on. At first it was just particularly annoying Akuma attacks – whether because they were late at night, or too close of a call, or interrupted something important – but it quickly became a target regardless of whether Papillon was the source of her current stress.

It was incredibly satisfying to stab this effigy with her various pins and needles as she vividly imagined Papillon suffering every blow. Of course, she knew it wasn’t _really_ doing anything to Papillon, but it was good stress relief, so it was well worth it.

Marinette had no idea what she had actually created.

.

.

It started small, as most things did before they grew out of hand.

Gabriel Agreste was a reasonably healthy man. He needed to be, of course, if he was to be committed to accomplishing his goals without interruption. Not merely his business goals, of course, but his personal goal of obtaining the Miraculouses. Illness or injury would only interfere with that, so he strove to keep himself in shape and in good health.

So when he began feeling sharp, stabbing pains in his chest and back, he didn’t hesitate to summon a doctor.

However, after an EKG and a few more tests, the doctor couldn’t identify anything amiss, and dismissed it all as a stress reaction.

“If it gets worse,” he said, “call me back and we’ll take a second look. But for now, my only recommendation is rest.”

Grumbling, Gabriel resolved to ignore the unusual pains. It was only occasional, after all, and there seemed to be little he could do about it. Perhaps it was just a part of growing older.

Gabriel had no idea of the true source of his pain.

.

.

“What is this?” Alya asked, picking up the Papillon doll with curiosity.

“Oh! That,” Marinette said, barely even glancing over as she worked. “I figured, I’d made other supervillain dolls, so why not?”

“Why are there a couple of pins sticking out of it?”

Marinette let out a small laugh. “Oh, I use it for stress relief. Akuma’s keep messing up my day, after all. It’s just a silly thing I do to feel better.”

“Messing up your day…or your time with Adrien?” Alya asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That too,” Marinette agreed. “It seems like every time I get a chance to hang out with him, some supervillain charges in. So I let little Papillon know what I think of that!”

Alya laughed, and continued to examine the doll.

“Not a bad idea,” she said, and looked up. “Think you could make me one, too? I’ve got my own beef with the guy.”

Marinette was a little surprised, but took it in stride.

“Sure, if you want,” she said. She hadn’t ever thought that someone else would want her dolls, but there would be no harm in that, right? “But I thought you _liked_ the supervillain attacks for your blog?”

“Not when I’m babysitting or stuck in school and can’t go chasing after them for footage!” Alya said. “Papillon always picks the most inconvenient times!”

Marinette couldn’t argue with that.

.

.

It didn’t get better.

Sometimes Gabriel would feel the sharp pain for a moment, then a dull ache in that spot for a while after, as thought something was _stuck_ there. No amount of ice or heat or massages soothed the discomfort. But as it wasn’t getting worse, and the doctor had found nothing wrong before, Gabriel held off on calling him back.

After some time, though, he noticed a pattern – the pain was noticeably more frequent on the days he had transformed. Furious, he confronted Nooroo, only for the bemused Kwami to offer no help.

“It’s not the Miraculous, Master,” he said nervously, but Gabriel knew that he was not lying – he had forbidden Nooroo from doing so, after all. “I do not know what is causing you pain. It may be some other magic, or something mundane.”

He growled in frustration, and commanded Nooroo to transform. He wasn’t going to let a little pain get in the way of his pursuit of the Miraculouses.

.

.

Honestly, Marinette probably should’ve expected this.

Alya was very pleased with her Papillon doll – so pleased, in fact, that she showed it off to the entire class. Soon almost everyone was clamoring for one, and Marinette found herself swamped with requests.

“Maybe you should charge commissions,” Tikki suggested. It wasn’t a bad idea, but…

“They’re my friends, Tikki. And I already gave Alya one for free, so if I started charging for them, people would be upset at how unfair I’m being.”

“But it’s not very fair for you to work so much for nothing,” Tikki insisted.

“It’s not for nothing if it makes my friends happy,” Marinette argued.

“Just don’t overwhelm yourself, Marinette!”

That wasn’t a promise Marinette felt she could keep. She had to make one each for nearly everyone in the class – two even for Sabrina, though she suspected one of them was actually for Chloé who didn’t want to lower herself to asking directly for one – and on top of that, people outside the class had somehow heard of the dolls and had started coming up to her to request them.

Marinette was definitely overwhelmed, but she pushed through, becoming faster but no less accurate as she grew practiced with the repeated design. One after the other, she churned out the Papillon dolls.

She wasn’t even surprised that somehow Plagg had heard of the dolls and had shown up in her room one day to request one for himself. Not for Chat Noir – just for himself. Though Marinette of course offered to make one for Chat Noir as well, but Plagg dismissed the idea, strongly implying Chat Noir had already gotten his hands on one. Marinette decided not to consider that too carefully.

“If you Cataclysm it, I’m not making you another one,” she warned as she handed over the new doll to the entirely too eager kwami.

“Hey, I may be destruction itself, but I know how to hold back. Sometimes.”

Tikki scoffed, and Plagg flashed them both a wide grin before he flew off with his prize.

Marinette just shrugged. If anyone had the most claim to being stressed by Papillon, it was the kwamis.

.

.

The pain increased exponentially.

Gabriel had cycled through rounds of doctors, none of which could identify anything physically wrong with him, despite his pain being evident even to them. It was all but constant, now, and not merely sharp pains any more. Sometimes he felt bruised and beaten, sometimes he struggled for breath, sometimes it felt as though his limbs were being ripped from their sockets.

It _had_ to be magical in origin, he was sure – those useless doctors couldn’t find a thing wrong with him. But Nooroo continued to be as perplexed as he was, convinced that it was not the Miraculous. And Gabriel had to admit that refraining from transforming did little to relieve the pain these days. But if not the Miraculous, then what could possibly be causing this?

It was hindering his ability to work, both as Gabriel and as Papillon, and he was getting _very_ pissed off about it.

But fortunately for him, that anger was just what he needed to gain the power to track down the source of his problems. Mustering his concentration despite the pain, he transformed and released an akuma to be drawn by his own anger and frustration. He detransformed and renounced Nooroo, and invited the akuma towards him. As he accepted the new transformation, he felt the pain recede and his mind clear – at once, he could now sense the source of his pain…

But it was scattered, his new senses pulling him in all different directions. He scowled, and headed for the closest source – within his own home, no less – with the hopes that it would provide him answers.

.

.

Adrien was working on homework, when to his immense surprise, his father burst into his room. While that was unusual enough in and of itself to cause alarm, slightly more alarming was the fact that the man was clearly akumatized.

Adrien stilled, not knowing what he had done to upset his father this time, but doubting that he’d be able to get away and transform when his akumatized father was right there. However, the Akuma made no attempt to approach him, instead stalking through the room and tearing apart the furniture (against Adrien’s protests).

“Father, what…?” he began, as the Akuma plucked something from under what used to be Adrien’s bed, and something from his toy collection. As he held the objects up, Adrien recognized them as Marinette’s Papillon dolls. He wasn’t sure when he’d picked up a second one, but that wasn’t terribly important right now.

“What are these?” the Akuma demanded, rounding on Adrien. Adrien scooted back in his chair slightly.

“Um…dolls?” he offered. He caught himself just before he explained that Marinette had made them – it probably wasn’t a good idea to direct an angry supervillain towards his friend. “Everyone at school has them.”

“Why?” came the next demand.

“Uh…they’re for, you know, stress relief?” Adrien said, unable to keep his tone from rising into a question. He winced, not knowing how much Papillon could see and hear through his victims – but chances were good that the supervillain wouldn’t be too happy about people beating up his likeness. Though why was his _father_ looking for them in the first place…?

The Akuma’s eyes widened, then narrowed, as though Adrien had answered some unasked question as well. Adrien got a sinking feeling in his stomach – nothing good could come from an Akuma who had that kind of expression on their face.

“Very well,” he said. “I will be confiscating these.” And with that, the Akuma took out a pen and drew a small portal in mid-air, glowing with a pale yellow light. He then threw the two dolls into it, and sealed the portal with a click of the pen. “Return to your studies,” he said indifferently, turning and striding away and out of Adrien’s room.

“Well, that was…” Adrien began.

“Weird,” Plagg agreed, poking his head out from Adrien’s schoolbag. “What’s got him all worked up this time?”

“I don’t know,” Adrien said, feeling rather uncomfortable about that. “But at least I’ve got a pretty good idea where his akuma is. Let’s go – since Marinette made the dolls, she could be in danger! Transform me, Plagg!”

Magic swallowed Adrien up, and not a moment later he was bounding for the window. Hopefully Ladybug would show up to help soon enough.

.

.

Marinette was just finishing up her homework when her balcony trapdoor clattered open and she was unceremoniously scooped up by Chat Noir.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, Marinette, there’s a supervillain after you, after these dolls, actually,” He swiped her original, now quite battered, Papillon doll from her desk. “I need to borrow this.”

Marinette’s irritation vanished at the word “supervillain”.

“A supervillain? Where? Why? What…” but she was cut off as Chat Noir leapt through the skylight with both her and the doll in hand. He jumped down to the street not a moment later and set her down quickly.

“Go and hide, stay away from the dolls, and don’t worry about a thing because Chat Noir is here to save the day!” he said, saluting with the hand that wasn’t clutching the doll before jumping away again.

Marinette crossed her arms.

“That wasn’t much of an explanation,” she huffed. “But maybe he’ll fill _Ladybug_ in. Transform me, Tikki!”

It didn’t take long before she caught up to Chat Noir on the rooftops.

“Ladybug!” he greeted cheerfully, though she noticed he was unusually tense.

“What’s going on, Chat Noir? – it’s not like you to kidnap innocent civilians out of their own homes.”

“Oh, you saw that?” he said. “See, Marinette made these dolls – remember when we fought Puppeteer? Well, she’s made more now, and well…she’s made a bunch of Papillon.”

Marinette nodded, letting him explain what she already knew until he got to the part she didn’t know.

“And now one of Papillon’s minions is trying to get rid of the dolls, I guess? I’m not entirely sure why – I guess Papillon doesn’t like them, but I don’t know why F…M. Agreste was akumatized over them…”

“M. Agreste?” she questioned, frowning. Adrien had one of her dolls, yes, but she couldn’t imagine that his father would be so upset by that. “That’s odd. And you think he’ll go after Marinette?”

“It’s possible,” Chat Noir said. “But I told her to go hide, and I think it’s the dolls that draw him in, so…” he waved the doll at her. “We can set a trap for him or something. I think the akuma’s in his pen – he makes these portal things with it that he throws the dolls into.”

“Alright,” she said, her mind already rushing to come up with ways to work around the portals. “Let’s go catch ourselves a supervillain, then.”

.

.

Gabriel – or Painkiller, as he’d dubbed himself, though he’d decided it would be wiser to keep that information to himself now that he’d discovered the source of his pains – flew over the streets, tracking down the dolls one by one to remove them from this plane of existence. He didn’t dare destroy them – he didn’t know what would happen to him if he succeeded. Because, somehow, these effigies had become linked to him so that he would feel the pain inflicted on them as though it was inflicted on himself. And he had…several questions about how that had happened.

But those questions couldn’t be asked without compromising his identity as Papillon – something he wasn’t terribly keen on doing. He would find out from Adrien later where those dolls had come from, and then figure out a way to deal with the one responsible without stirring up suspicion. But for now, his only goal was getting rid of those dolls, so that he would be able to function again.

His senses eventually took him to the TV studio. He strode in purposefully, ignoring the panicking civilians as he followed the pull to the next doll. He pushed open the door, surprised to find the room darkened and abandoned. Perhaps a child had lost their toys here…?

The lights came on suddenly, and he dodged not a second too soon as Ladybug’s yo-yo came whirring at him. He turned on a dime and quickly spun the pen in the air to catch the yo-yo as it flew at him. He clicked the portal shut as soon as it entered. Triumphant that he had disabled Ladybug – she couldn’t call for her Lucky Charm without her yo-yo – he went on the offensive. She slid sideways out of his reach as Chat Noir dropped down from the ceiling to block his punches.

Ladybug dodged around behind him, so Painkiller jumped straight up to avoid fighting the heroes from the front and back. He landed off to the side, and both heroes turned in unison as they launched themselves at him. He snarled as he struck back at the duo, beating them back but getting no closer to their Miraculouses.

Chat Noir charged back at him, and Painkiller lost sight of Ladybug as he went sprawling backwards. As Chat Noir’s staff drove towards him, Painkiller slashed a circle in the air with his pen, taking his weapon now. As soon as the hero realized what had happened, he tried to retract the staff – but Painkiller was faster, clicking the portal away in an instant, leaving Chat Noir with a broken staff.

As Chat Noir stared forlornly down at his staff, Painkiller tried to push himself to his feet – only to find himself caught. Glancing at his legs, he found that they were tied to the nearest lighting support beam with a red-and-black spotted jump rope. His gaze was then drawn to a smug and smirking Ladybug.

How…?

He’d gotten rid of her yo-yo! She shouldn’t have been able to use Lucky Charm!

She must’ve used it before he’d gotten here, he realized with dawning horror. And as Chat Noir tore the pen from Painkiller’s hands and crushed it, he knew he had been defeated.

_No_ , he thought. _I can’t go back to that constant agony…_

.

.

Marinette launched the jump rope into the sky, releasing the healing ladybugs to restore everything to its proper place. She then scooped up the doll she had hidden in the recording equipment before approaching M. Agreste. Chat Noir had already knelt down beside the man, offering a hand to help him up.

“Are you alright, F…sir?” he asked.

“You seemed very upset about these dolls,” Marinette added, holding hers out. “What’s troubling you, sir?”

“I…” the man hesitated as he got to his feet. “I am not sure what came over me, Ladybug. I apologize for inconveniencing you both.”

Marinette nodded, but frowned as soon as M. Agreste looked over to her partner, who was offering him a lift home. Papillon always took over people who were upset for some reason or another, so it was odd that M. Agreste couldn’t recall what he’d been upset about. Or perhaps he was too embarrassed by it? Either way, she couldn’t figure out why the dolls had been so objectionable – perhaps Papillon would find them distasteful but why akumatize M. Agreste over them?

She had no answers, so she retaliated by pinching the doll’s left shoulder.

M. Agreste immediately stiffened, his right hand jerking upward before being forced still, and Marinette froze. M. Agreste had been in pain, exactly where she had pinched the doll. That…that was impossible, right? She must’ve been seeing things, and it just wouldn’t make sense. But M. Agreste was clearly trying to hide the fact that he was in pain.

After only a moment of hesitation, she decided to test things further, moving out of M. Agreste’s sight before she squeezed the doll around the middle. M. Agreste jerked downward, clutching at his stomach.

Far too many thoughts began racing, cold and gripping through Marinette’s head, but she pushed them aside. She could panic about the implications of this in a moment. For right now, she needed to act.

“Sir, are you sure you’re alright?” she asked, her voice pleasantly concerned.

“I…am fine, Ladybug. I suppose being akumatized was simply…strenuous. I just need to get home and rest.”

She frowned, and twisted the doll against itself. She winced as M. Agreste gave a small cry and would have collapsed to the floor had Chat Noir not caught him in concern. She didn’t _like_ causing him pain like this, even if he was…no, she wasn’t going to think about that right now.

“Sir, I think you should go to a hospital. Chat Noir and I can take you.” After all, Chat Noir had not used his Cataclysm and she had recharged in between using Lucky Charm and waiting for the Akuma to show up. Both of them had plenty of time.

“No, thank you, no…aaghh!”

Chat Noir met her eyes, looking increasingly worried, and Marinette again felt guilty. But she would explain this later – for now, she needed to get M. Agreste under supervision. She nodded at her partner, who likely had no idea what was causing M. Agreste’s condition, and he picked the man up, who had stopped putting up much of a protest.

She followed right behind them as Chat Noir took M. Agreste out of the studio and towards the hospital. She held the doll as loosely as possible without dropping it, to minimize any additional pain to M. Agreste, but unfortunately it seemed to make little difference, as M. Agreste still seemed to be in pain.

With growing dismay, Marinette considered just how _many_ dolls she had made. If they were all like this one…

Just how much had they been tormenting him?

.

.

Adrien watched as the nurses wheeled his father away. Never had he felt so helpless while in superhero costume. At least being a superhero did have the benefit that they could push for something to happen quickly, and so his father was admitted as soon as they arrived.

Next to him, Ladybug addressed the hotel security.

“Please make sure he stays here. We’ve never had this happen after restoring the city before, so we’d like to follow up with him and the doctors while he’s treated. It may be a preexisting condition, but if this was Papillon’s doing, we need to know.”

“Of course, Ladybug,” the head of security agreed easily.

“Thank you,” she said, and turned back to Adrien. “Chat Noir, we need to discuss the situation. Let’s go somewhere private.”

He was briefly surprised, wondering if Ladybug knew something he didn’t. He had been intending to go off and detransform so he could wait to be let in to see his father as Adrien, but if Ladybug thought there was something Miraculous-related with his father’s condition…he could definitely stick around to hear her out.

They went to the hospital roof, and he noticed that Ladybug seemed anxious as she looked around for any potential listeners. When she seemed satisfied that they were alone, she turned back to him, looking far too serious.

“My Lady, do you think M. Agreste’s condition is because of something with the akumatization?” he asked. He hadn’t ever seen lingering effects of akumatization before, but the way his father had collapsed…though, hadn’t it seemed as though he was experiencing some pain on the few occasions Adrien had seen him recently? It was hard to tell.

“No,” Ladybug said, biting her lip. “But I think I do know what’s causing the problem.”

“What?” he asked, leaning forward, desperate for answers.

“It’s going to sound crazy, I know, but…I think it’s this.” She held out Marinette’s doll. Adrien raised his eyebrow.

“The…Papillon doll? What about it?”

“I…like I said, it sounds crazy, but when I pinched or squeezed the doll…M. Agreste reacted as though…it’d been done to him.”

Adrien blinked. “I’m sorry,” he said, “are you saying that Marinette – friendly, sweet, helpful, ordinary human Marinette Dupain-Cheng – has been making actual, working _voodoo dolls_? How…?”

“I don’t know!” Ladybug said, sounding slightly hysterical. “It’s crazy but I can’t think of any other reason for what I saw. And if you consider just how many dolls are out there, now…it’s a wonder that M. Agreste hasn’t collapsed before this!”

Adrien stood there in silence for a few moments, trying to reconcile his conception of his kind-hearted classmate and friend with the idea of the kind of dark enchantress who could create such devices – the result was strangely appealing – before he processed just _what_ those dolls were supposed to represent, and he started to feel nauseous.

“But those dolls…they’re of Papillon…”

Ladybug looked back up at him. “He’s been a suspect before,” she pointed out.

“But he’s been akumatized. Twice now!” Adrien said, grasping at anything to avoid the picture forming in his mind.

“I know,” she said. “But this time, we know he’s working with someone. Who’s to say that he doesn’t have the Peacock Miraculous wielder take on his Miraculous temporarily to throw off suspicion?”

Adrien’s heart sank, as he thought of Nathalie, and how it fit.

“Then I guess,” he said reluctantly. “We’d better go search the mansion.”

Ladybug nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking. And we should do it now, while M. Agreste is in the hospital. After that…we’ll need to collect the dolls and remove their magic somehow. I’ll have to ask Tikki or Master Fu about that…”

Adrien really didn’t understand why Ladybug seemed to be more worked up about the voodoo dolls than _finding out who Papillon was_, but then again, now that he thought about it, it wasn’t really _that_ surprising that his father was a supervillain, was it? Now that he was moving past the initial shock of it, he really felt more disappointed than anything. Of course Father was off committing magical terrorism to steal jewelry instead of getting a normal hobby and actually talking to Adrien more than once a week. Of course Nathalie had helped out. Adrien wouldn’t be surprised if “Feather Terrorism” was spelled out in her contract. Had anyone even been running the _business_ in the past year?

Really, out of all the weird things that had developed today, maybe Marinette’s voodoo dolls really _were_ the weirdest. At least her true nature as a dark sorceress was actually _unexpected _and when he would have time to process it, probably more emotionally conflicting.

Adrien tried to stop his imagination from running away with possibilities of what other dark magics Marinette was capable of by contemplating instead whether he actually had enough money to run away to an island or if Father and Nathalie had drained it all for their failed jewelry heist.

Well, there was only one way to find out, he supposed, as he followed Ladybug back to his house to confront Nathalie and retrieve the Miraculouses.

It didn’t take very long.

.

.

“Well,” Master Fu said, “that is certainly an…unexpected way of uncovering Papillon and retrieving the missing Miraculouses. I am pleased, of course, but…yes, this is certainly interesting.”

“Master…how did I manage to make these voodoo dolls without realizing it? I mean, that’s not part of Ladybug’s powers, is it?”

“No, Marinette,” Master Fu said, smiling gently at her. “That seems to be something you did out of your own innate magic.”

Marinette frowned, shrinking into herself. “I don’t want to have magic that hurts people. Even if it did lead us to Papillon, I’m not happy about what it does to him.”

“I’m sure there’s much more that you can do, Marinette!” Tikki piped up. “And as clever as you are, I know you’ll find a way to put it to good use. You just need to explore and train your abilities.”

Master Fu nodded in agreement. “Sorcery has a wide variety of applications. It’s not unusual for those with the talent for it to discover it through more harmful practices, but with discipline and caution, I’m certain you will be able to avoid doing so in the future.”

Marinette relaxed, reassured by both of her mentors. They would both help her with this, she knew, and if she could use her powers for good…

“First,” she said. “I think I need to find a way to _remove_ the magic from these dolls. I know M. Agreste had done horrible things, but it doesn’t feel right to keep letting him be tortured like this. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“I agree,” Master Fu said. “And magic removal sounds like a very good place to start practice in general. But you’ve had quite the intense day already, and I think it’s time you got some rest, first.”

.

.

It was a few days later that Marinette felt confident enough to be able to remove the dolls’ magic.

The challenge, however, was in getting the dolls _back_.

“Uh…Why do you need them, Ladybug?”

She’d decided that using Ladybug’s authority would be the most efficient way to collect them, but as she floundered for an explanation as she faced down her class, she wondered if approaching as Marinette under the guise of “repairing” or “improving” the dolls wouldn’t have worked better.

“Um…well, it’s superhero business, and…” she said, knowing even as she said it that it wasn’t very convincing.

It was Chat Noir who came to her rescue. He’d already returned Plagg’s doll to her – apparently with much protesting on the kwami’s part. Marinette was grateful that Plagg hadn’t actually tried to Cataclysm the doll – she didn’t want to imagine what that would’ve done to M. Agreste.

“You see,” he said, “these dolls are actually magically linked to Papillon, and we need to get rid of those links.”

“What? Marinette wouldn’t do that…” came several protests.

“We’ll be following up with Marinette, of course,” Marinette said, having regained her confidence. “But we’re certain it was an accident…”

“Linked how?” Alix interrupted. “Like, can he see through them or something?”

“No,” Chat Noir said. “It’s more like…voodoo dolls?”

Marinette knew it was a mistake the instant he said it, feeling a sense of dread as the class reacted.

“Awesome,” Juleka said, practically lighting up at the prospect.

Chloé had gone quite pale, and if Marinette hadn’t been internally freaking out, she might’ve been pretty amused at that.

The rest of the class seemed to range all along the spectrum from concerned to fascinated.

_Wonderful_ , Marinette thought. _Now they’re either going to be terrified of me or pester me nonstop about how to do it. Or both._

And, as several of her classmates got a dangerous gleam in their eyes, a few even taking out their dolls to prod at, Marinette realized that it just got a whole lot harder to get the dolls back. And from the look on Chat Noir’s face, he realized it too. He half-turned and gave her an apologetic look and shrug.

“Oops.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [Dreamwidth](https://peppermint-shamrock.dreamwidth.org/) for daily WIP excerpts and sneak peaks, or follow my [Miraculous Tumblr blog](https://ladyofcreation.tumblr.com/)!


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